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The views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter, not necessarily those of the International Accounting Standards Board (the Board) or IFRS Foundation. Copyright © IFRS Foundation. All rights reserved

IFRS® Foundation

The IFRS Taxonomy

XBRL International Conference Paris, November 2017

2 Agenda

• How the Board supports digital reporting • Content of the IFRS Taxonomy • Support for IFRS Taxonomy users

– preparers – regulators

• Challenges

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3 IFRS Foundation

How the Board supports digital

reporting

Copyright © IFRS Foundation. All rights reserved

4 Times are changing—Technology

Information

electronic feeds AI

Prepare Deliver Use

IFRS Taxonomy

Audit Report more automation digital formats big data

new communication channels

5 Central theme of the Board’s work

Primary Financial

Statements

Disclosure Initiative

IFRS Taxonomy

Better Communication in Financial Reporting

Content and its organisation Content delivery

6 IFRS Standards and technology work together … the more information becomes available, the more need there is for comparability, standardisation and quality control. Accounting standards aim to achieve this … No artificial intelligence in the world would be able to make heads or tails from information that is in many cases inherently flawed… … I think these developments [digitised regulatory filings] can do much to improve the accessibility of digital financial information to investors. … In turn, once regulatory filings become digitised, this will open up a wealth of information about how IFRS Standards are used in practice. … Speech by Hans Hoogervorst ‘The times, they are a-changing’ at Accountancy Europe, September 2017

7 For example—Primary financial statements

The project is exploring ways to improve content and organisation of the Primary Financial Statements. For example:

― requiring minimum line items ― requiring comparable subtotals such as EBIT ― developing templates

Primary Financial Statements Project

An improved structure of the primary financial statements should also facilitate structured electronic reporting using the IFRS Taxonomy

8 IFRS Foundation

Content of the IFRS Taxonomy

Copyright © IFRS Foundation. All rights reserved

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Elements cover two different types of content:

Content found in IFRS Standards

presentation and disclosure requirements

illustrative examples &

implementation guidance

IFRS common reporting practice

information companies commonly disclose when applying IFRS Standards

IFRS Taxonomy content

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Full IFRS Taxonomy―number of elements

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

2017 2016 2015

Disclosure Examples Common practice

11 Content development—how can you help?

Comment on public consultations

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Content development—how can you help?

We may not be able to respond to an individual comment, but your feedback could result in an improvement to the IFRS Taxonomy content or to the publication of additional general guidance

13 IFRS Foundation

Support for preparers

Copyright © IFRS Foundation. All rights reserved

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• link the IFRS Taxonomy element to the corresponding IFRS Standard or its accompanying material

References

• identifies the source of the IFRS Taxonomy element, eg, whether it is a disclosure requirement or a common practice element

Reference source

• provides a textual description of the accounting meaning of each element

Documentation label

Understanding the accounting meaning of an element

15 References and documentation labels—example

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Tagging examples illustrate how the presentation and disclosure examples in the IFRS Standards might be tagged using the IFRS Taxonomy

Tagging examples using the IFRS Taxonomy

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The aims of this guide are:

A Preparer’s guide to using the IFRS Taxonomy

To answer general questions a preparer may have. For example:

• how can I understand the accounting meaning of an element? • where can I find the relevant elements to tag the primary financial

statements?

To address any possible misunderstanding. For example:

• presentation and calculation does not define the accounting meaning of an element, its primary aim is to help users with navigation

18 IFRS Foundation

Support for regulators

Copyright © IFRS Foundation. All rights reserved

19 Need for a single global taxonomy

• Globally consistent electronic IFRS reporting requires a single global taxonomy―the IFRS® Taxonomy

• Multiple taxonomies would lead to: ― increased costs for preparers and users of digital reports ― reduced benefits for preparers and users of digital reports

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Alternative presentation

linkbase

Addition of new elements

Additional or alternative labels

to reflect regulatory disclosure

requirements to reflect local

reporting practice to reflect terminology used in a particular

region

A regulator can extend the IFRS Taxonomy. For example:

The IFRS Taxonomy supports customisation

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• Translations of the IFRS Taxonomy – IFRS Taxonomy translations are available on the website of the IFRS

Foundation – a separate licensing contract is required to translate the IFRS

Taxonomy into another language

• Guidance and supporting materials, for example: – versioning information highlighting content changes between

taxonomies – Regulator’s guide to using the IFRS Taxonomy

Other support

22 IFRS Foundation

Challenges

Copyright © IFRS Foundation. All rights reserved

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Investors require …

• reliable and consistent tagging

• timely and easily available tagged data

• data connections and context

• simplicity

Our current focus …

• further content development • guidance for preparers • work with regulators to

support consistent implementation

• handling entity-specific disclosures

Challenges

24 Contact us

Keep up to date

IFRS Foundation

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IFRS Foundation

@IFRSFoundation

Comment on our work

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